Birmingham indie group Peace are causing a stir in the music world

Birmingham indie group Peace are arguably the most-hyped new band to come out of the city. Paul Suart talks to them about their NME Awards Tour slot and the pressures of being tipped for the top in 2013.

When members of buzz bands declare sentiments like: “I always knew we’d become famous”, it can easily be construed as arrogance.

Yet when Peace frontman Harrison Koisser, 21, makes such a bald assertion, it’s confidence that is most striking rather than attitude.

“I want to say I didn’t expect it at all but at the back of my mind I was secretly quite confident,” he says.

“If you don’t think it will happen then it probably won’t.

The
indie quartet have caused quite a stir in the music world over the last
few months and are one of a number of up-and- coming acts from the city
which is beginning to put Birmingham on a musical map.

Not
since its heyday of the 1970s and 1980s, when a cacophony of rock bands
from Black Sabbath to Judas Priest and Led Zeppelin came out of Birmingham, followed by ELO, UB40 and Duran Duran, has the city had a musical spotlight shone over it.

It
was all about Liverpool in the sixties, buoyed by Beatlemania. Then it was Madchester in the late 1980s and early 1990s, spearheaded by The Stone Roses and The Happy Mondays.

A
host of guitar bands, such as The Libertines, Razorlight and Bloc Party, then emerged from the capital at the turn of the century.

But
perhaps now, it is Birmingham’s turn once more to produce a clutch of bands and artists to lead a new sonic frontier and challenge the landscape of
popular music on these shores and beyond.

Peace
are just one of a number of bands in this new “B-Town scene” and with their first album due out next month and a slot on the NME Awards Tour, they are thrusting themselves further into the musical spotlight.

“Our first album is something we’ve been building towards for a while now,” says Harrison.

“I’m quite satisfied the album will satisfy people’s needs.

“There’s a lot of (Led) Zeppelin influence in it and there’s a bit of Christmas music in there.

“There’s a few bells and Christmasy sounds which is weird but sounds good in an almost classic rock fashion.”

Fresh
from a nomination in the BBC Sound of 2013 Poll, Peace, whose members met at Worcester Sixth Form College, are gearing up for their role as openers on the NME Awards Tour.

It’s a position which has thrust the likes of Azealia Banks, Florence and the Machine and The Vaccines, into the limelight.

“We’re really looking forward to the tour and are practising hard at the moment,” Harrison says.

The tour, which also features Palma Violets, Miles Kane and Django Django, hits the O2 Academy in Birmingham on Saturday.